# Possible 20" of snow in Texas? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [December 27, 2000, 4:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/possible-20-of-snow-in-texas/47379 "2000-12-27T16:03:21Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![justwannano](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/7ab992/32.png) [@justwannano](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/justwannano)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2000, 4:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/possible-20-of-snow-in-texas/47379/1 "2000-12-27T16:03:21Z")
Just heard the report from Radio Iowa. Is heavy snow like that a common occurance that far south? We watch that area Texas Oklahoma New Mexico for winter storms,moisture mostly,which coupled with Canadian air means snow or ice storms. ---
**Author:** ![mazzer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/eada6e/32.png) [@mazzer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mazzer)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2000, 4:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/possible-20-of-snow-in-texas/47379/2 "2000-12-27T16:13:14Z")
That far south? It was most likely in the Panhandle, which if you grab a map isn’t that far south, y’all. Cold fronts readily visit Amarillo and Lubbock and the like, and even Dallas gets its fair share of snow. Venture down here to Houston, though, and it’s fairly rare for it to stick. ---
**Author:** ![Duck\_Duck\_Goose](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/50afbb/32.png) [@Duck\_Duck\_Goose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duck_Duck_Goose)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2000, 4:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/possible-20-of-snow-in-texas/47379/3 "2000-12-27T16:27:46Z")
The Panhandle isn’t “south”. 😉 Houston is “south”. > **[National and Local Weather Radar, Daily Forecast, Hurricane and information...](https://weather.com/)** > > The Weather Channel and weather.com provide a national and local weather forecast for cities, as well as weather radar, report and hurricane coverage > [@](#): > > A crippling ice storm has paralyzed much of Oklahoma, north Texas, and Arkansas. McAlester, Okla., is under a state of emergency as most residents are without electricity, heat or water. Little Rock has been hit hard, as well. Travel is very treacherous throughout the region. To the west, up to 15 inches of snow buried parts of the Texas Panhandle and many roads are closed. A little sleet and freezing rain will make its way through Tennessee today. Farther south, a cold rain mixed with some sleet will move into north Georgia and the Carolinas. To answer your question, no, it doesn’t happen often, but when it does, it’s Nellie bar the door. ---
**Author:** ![Kepi](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kepi/32/7251_2.png) [@Kepi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kepi)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2000, 5:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/possible-20-of-snow-in-texas/47379/4 "2000-12-27T17:53:32Z")
Having attended college in Lubbock in the Panhandle of Texas (Texas Tech - Go Red Raiders!), I can assure you that this is more common than you think. During my four years there, we experienced at least one snow storm each winter, and the typical snowfall amount was anywhere from 4 to 10 inches. Amarillo, which was about 100 miles further north than Lubbock, usually got even more snow than we did. If you look at a map, you’ll see that Amarillo is along a line that stretches from Albuquerque to Oklahoma City to Little Rock to Nashville (Interstate 40, ya know). That’s about as far south as these big winter storms usually make it, but they’ve been known to drop down here to the Dallas-Fort Worth area occassionally. In fact, I was hoping this one would make it here, because everything shuts down when we get ice and snow. I could really use another day off! 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![justwannano](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/7ab992/32.png) [@justwannano](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/justwannano)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2000, 5:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/possible-20-of-snow-in-texas/47379/5 "2000-12-27T17:57:22Z")
Well you’re at least 300 miles south of us. My relatives in Minneapolis consider us,SE Iowa,south. ---
**Author:** ![Yarster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/7c8e57/32.png) [@Yarster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yarster)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2000, 6:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/possible-20-of-snow-in-texas/47379/6 "2000-12-27T18:11:49Z")
Having spent two years in UT Austin (hook 'em Horns), I can tell you we do get snow there too. Not too much of course (maybe 1-2 inches). Unluckily for us though, what we did get was a ton of rain, and weather JUST cold enough to freeze it into everyone’s favorite…black ice. ---
**Author:** ![ScoobyTX](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ec9cab/32.png) [@ScoobyTX](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ScoobyTX)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2000, 6:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/possible-20-of-snow-in-texas/47379/7 "2000-12-27T18:21:58Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Yarster \* > \*\*Having spent two years in UT Austin (hook 'em Horns), I can tell you we do get snow there too. Not too much of course (maybe 1-2 inches). Unluckily for us though, what we did get was a ton of rain, and weather JUST cold enough to freeze it into everyone’s favorite…black ice. \*\* I’ve been in Austin for 12 years, and have never seen more than a fraction of an inch of “snow” fall. What is bad down here is that precipitation often comes down as liquid, and freezes on the roads, power lines, trees, etc. Farther North, precipitation comes down as solid water (snow, sleet, etc.). It is relatively “dry” and also easier to clear off of the roads. In my previous life in the mid-west, there was rarely freezing rain, but when there was, life came to a standstill, just like here. ---
**Author:** ![Gunslinger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/4491bb/32.png) [@Gunslinger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gunslinger)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2000, 6:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/possible-20-of-snow-in-texas/47379/8 "2000-12-27T18:29:55Z")
It hasn’t snowed here\* in 15 years. \*–northeast corner of TX